The Works of John Witherspoon: Containing Essays, Sermons, &c., on Important Subjects ... Together with His Lectures on Moral Philosophy Eloquence and Divinity, His Speeches in the American Congress, and Many Other Valuable Pieces, Never Before Published in this Country, Volume 7Prited by J. Hughs, for J. Dodsley, 1815 - Presbyterian Church |
Common terms and phrases
abfurd againſt alfo alſo arifes beauty becauſe beſt cafe caufe cauſe Cicero circumftances compofition confcience confequence confider confifts conftitution David Hume defire difcourfe diftinct diſcourſe diſcover diſtinguiſh divifion duty eafily eaſy effect effential eloquence excellence exerciſe expreffion faid fame feems fenfe fenfible fentiments fhall fhew fhould figns fimple fimplicity firft firſt fociety fome fomething fometimes fpeaking fpirit ftate ftrong ftyle fubject fublimity fuch fuperior fuppofed greateſt happineſs himſelf induſtry intereft itſelf judgement juft juftice juſt kind laft language laſt leaſt lefs manner meaſure moft moral moſt muft muſt nature neceffary neceffity neral obferve obligation occafion oppofite orator oratory paffions particular perfect right perfons perhaps pleaſe pleaſure poffible prefent principles puniſhment purpoſe reafon remark ſay ſeems ſenſe ſhall ſome ſpeak ſpeaker ſtate ſtudy ſuppoſed taſte thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe tion truth underſtand univerfal unleſs uſe virtue writing
Popular passages
Page 225 - Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly.
Page 12 - It seems a point agreed upon — says a writer on natural religion — that the principles of duty and obligation must be drawn from the nature of man : that is to say, if we can discover how his Maker formed him, or for what he intended him, that certainly is what he ought to...
Page 275 - Then shall the rich and the poor meet together, the Lord shall be the Judge of them both : there will be no distinction made on account of former riches or poverty. Both the man of property and wealth, and he who in the sweat of his brow did eat bread, shall be judged at one tribunal. The man...
Page 23 - I have a much more lively idea of Jupiter and Juno, and many of their actions, from Homer and Virgil, though I do not believe that any of them ever existed, than I have of many things that I know happened within these few months.
Page 37 - True virtue certainly promotes the general good, and this may be made use of as an argument in doubtful cases, to determine whether a particular principle is right or wrong, but to make the good of the whole our immediate principle of action, is putting ourselves in...
Page 34 - He says we have a certain feeling, by which we sympathize, and as he calls it, go along with what appears to be right. This is but a new phraseology for the moral sense. 6. David Hume has a scheme of morals that is peculiar to himself. He makes every thing that is agreeable and useful virtuous, and vice versa, by which he entirely annihilates the difference between natural and moral qualities, making health, strength, cleanliness, as really virtues as integrity and truth. 7. We have an opinion published...
Page 29 - ... or delightful, and therefore finding our interest in them as the most noble gratification. The moral sense implies also a sense of obligation, that such and such things are right and others wrong ; that we- are bound in duty to do the one, and that our conduct is hateful, blameable, and deserving of punishment, if we do the contrary; and there is also in the moral sense or conscience, an apprehension or belief that reward and punishment will follow, according as we shall act in the one way, or...
Page 13 - Suppofing this depravity, it muft be one great caufe of difficulty and confufion in giving an account of human nature as the work of God. This I take to be indeed the cafe with the greateft part of our moral and theological knowledge. Thofe who deny this depravity, will be apt to plead for every thing, or for many things, as dictates of nature, which are in reality propenfities of nature in its prefent Hate, but at the fame time the fruit and evidence of its departure from its original purity.
Page 139 - At present we confine ourselves to things required, and among them we place religious oaths, or those which are taken with religious solemnity. " An oath is an appeal to God, the searcher of hearts, for the truth of what we say, and always expresses or supposes an imprecation of his judgment upon us, if we prevaricate. An oath, therefore, implies a belief in God and his providence, and indeed is an act of worship, and so accounted in Scripture, as in that expression, Thou...
Page 38 - The result of the whole is, that we ought to take the rule of duty from conscience, enlightened by reason, experience, and every way by which we can be supposed to learn the will of our Maker, and his intention in creating us such as we are.